Instagram Unveils Ad Campaign to Boost Facebook Growth

Popular social network Instagram announced that it will start introducing ads into its feed, as it seeks to start earning revenue.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular social network Instagram announced it will start introducing ads into its feed as it seeks to add revenue for its parent, Facebook (FB). The Instagram statement came on the eve of Twitter's pending announcement for an initial public offering.

Several analysts on Wall Street have recently talked up the potential of Instagram as the photo and video sharing social network continues to gain traction, with over 130 million monthly active users.

Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook. last year, and recently introduced videos, made the announcement on its blog. Facebook was rising 1.1% to $49.67 in after-hours trading on the announcement.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about the potential of Instagram as a business on Facebook's second-quarter earnings call. "There are so many directions to expand this in that we think that the right focus for now is to continue just focusing on increasing the footprint of Instagram," Zuckerberg said on the call. "And when the right time comes then we'll think about doing advertising as well, but I think that's going to be a really big opportunity."

Here's the announcement in its entirety:

Over the past three years we've watched with amazement as Instagram has grown to a global community of more than 150 million people capturing and sharing the world's moments. Instagram is a place where people come to connect and be inspired, and our focus with every product we build is keeping it this way.

We have big ideas for the future, and part of making them happen is building Instagram into a sustainable business. In the next couple months, you may begin seeing an occasional ad in your Instagram feed if you're in the United States. Seeing photos and videos from brands you don't follow will be new, so we'll start slow. We'll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.